Interactive

Computing science

An IBM study in the early 1980s found that productivity on a computer is highest when the graphical screen updates in one half second or faster; between one half second to three quarters of one second, productivity greatly decreases. In computer science, interactive refers to software which accepts and responds to input from people—for example, data or commands. Interactive software includes most popular programs, such as word processors or spreadsheetapplications. By comparison, noninteractive programs operate without human contact; examples of these include compilers and batch processing applications. If the response is complex enough it is said that the system is conducting social interaction and some systems try to achieve this through the implementation of social interfaces.